MTFCA Forum

I recent post about LED bulbs got me thinking about my car. I want to put some LED bulbs in so I can actually see and be seen I was looking at Lang's and they have a 6 or 12 volt bulb that is an LED that you can use in the headlights. Has anyone purchased these and use them in a car with 6 volts? Is there any difference in brightness if you use the bulb in a 6 volt car? It says you can use the same bulb but either a 6 or 12 volt car. Thank you!

www.ledlight.com I've used lights from this company the past 4 years and very satisfied with brightness and detail..... My car is 6 volt . Headlights and tail lights are LED and use very little amperage compared to standard bulbs.

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Thank you moxie26. Theres a good selection to choose from!
Just wondering if any work better than another. I know leds can be sensitive.

Just narrow your request, such as 6 volt headlight bulbs in their search box.

1925 Touring wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 26, 2024 12:47 pm

I recent post about LED bulbs got me thinking about my car. I want to put some LED bulbs in so I can actually see and be seen I was looking at Lang's and they have a 6 or 12 volt bulb that is an LED that you can use in the headlights. Has anyone purchased these and use them in a car with 6 volts? Is there any difference in brightness if you use the bulb in a 6 volt car? It says you can use the same bulb but either a 6 or 12 volt car. Thank you!

Before you experiment with LED bulbs you might want to read through this old discussion about them. There have been several in the past.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38396&p=297074&hilit=led#p297074
The main advantage of them is that they take less wattage than filament bulbs. There are many styles. Some make the headlight lens look very bright but don't focus well & illuminate the road well. Specifications to compare against wattage (the less the better) & lumens (amount of light produced). Color (measured in kelvin) gives the appearance of warm (3000k) to while light (6000k).

Just sharing a night drive photo using LED’s.

My ‘23 Touring is 6v. The LED’s will run on 6-24v. No difference in brightness with higher voltage but mentioned it since they do have an input range. These make driving at night actually fun and you can see the road. Don’t forget to refresh your reflectors if they are dull or tarnished.

The best part is they draw less than 2 amps. So I run my generator at 4 amps and have a voltage regulator so little stress on generator and battery.

Good luck!

David

Has anyone used the lang's new LED bulbs in their t?

Woody23 wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 27, 2024 9:53 am

Just sharing a night drive photo using LED’s.

My ‘23 Touring is 6v. The LED’s will run on 6-24v. No difference in brightness with higher voltage but mentioned it since they do have an input range. These make driving at night actually fun and you can see the road. Don’t forget to refresh your reflectors if they are dull or tarnished.

The best part is they draw less than 2 amps. So I run my generator at 4 amps and have a voltage regulator so little stress on generator and battery.

Good luck!

David

Okay.... What LED Bulbs are they (model & supplier)? Also are you using the stock fluted lens? This is best picture I have seen of well focused Model T headlights!!!!
They are focused well for oncoming drivers but a bit high which might annoy a car in front (but that's an issue with the lens)

TRDxB2 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 29, 2024 12:44 pm

Woody23 wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 27, 2024 9:53 am

Just sharing a night drive photo using LED’s.

My ‘23 Touring is 6v. The LED’s will run on 6-24v. No difference in brightness with higher voltage but mentioned it since they do have an input range. These make driving at night actually fun and you can see the road. Don’t forget to refresh your reflectors if they are dull or tarnished.

The best part is they draw less than 2 amps. So I run my generator at 4 amps and have a voltage regulator so little stress on generator and battery.

Good luck!

David

Okay.... What LED Bulbs are they (model & supplier)? Also are you using the stock fluted lens? This is best picture I have seen of well focused Model T headlights!!!!
They are focused well for oncoming drivers but a bit high which might annoy a car in front (but that's an issue with the lens)

I was looking at the headlights at Lang's old car parts had for sale it's a new item they have. I was wondering if anyone has used those before. They're slightly cheaper than the one Snyder's have but are they the same?
https://www.modeltford.com/item/6572LED.aspx

Several suppliers are selling these so we can assume they are the same. read instructions on Snyders site. also note that the existing reflectors would not be used since the light is directed forward. The fluted lens is used to direct the headlight beam the bulb base should bec 2 horizontal pins. BA15D

I would hate to be driving into David's lights. As far as focus goes, the led's cannot be focused as that relies on shifting the globe holder so that the reflector can focus the light output. They can be aimed, but that does not concentrate the beam. The led's throw light forward, so the reflector has no function. Some led "globes" have rings of led's to throw light sideways onto the reflector. There are banks of them, so the light is scattered about when projected forward.
What the led' bulbs do is emit loads of ill directed bright blue/white light with little current draw. The latter is a positive in a T. The former leads me to ask, are there design rules on auto lighting in the USA? If so, have any of the replacement led bulbs been assessed to see if they meet these design rules? In Australia many of the conversions for use with standard parabolic reflectors, [like T's], are for off road use only.

Allan from down under.

Allan,

You seem to be damning all LED lamps?

If that's the case I have to disagree. I have LED lamps that do not 'throw light forward', do not have banks of LED's, do not 'emit loads of ill directed bright blue/white light', and can be nicely focused.

I have written about these before, and a lot about the development of headlamps, it could be useful to look at some of that.

Luke.

Luke wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 30, 2024 2:57 pm

Allan,

You seem to be damning all LED lamps?

If that's the case I have to disagree. I have LED lamps that do not 'throw light forward', do not have banks of LED's, do not 'emit loads of ill directed bright blue/white light', and can be nicely focused.

I have written about these before, and a lot about the development of headlamps, it could be useful to look at some of that.

Luke.

Where would i find such information?

Luke wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 30, 2024 2:57 pm

Allan,

You seem to be damning all LED lamps?

If that's the case I have to disagree. I have LED lamps that do not 'throw light forward', do not have banks of LED's, do not 'emit loads of ill directed bright blue/white light', and can be nicely focused.

I have written about these before, and a lot about the development of headlamps, it could be useful to look at some of that.

Luke.

Luke, I agree with Allan on his statement about the picture of David Wood's LED headlights not being aimed properly as I stated above. I have commented on several LED bulb designs in the past, some good & some bad. These were the best I have seen, with the exception of a lack of cutoff.
Normally focused low beam headlights cutoff height so that don't reflect into the driver's compartment in front of them. Now we don't know if the picture was with Low Beam or High beam. Just that the picture would bother drivers in front. So any bright light above the white line is a distraction. Illumination the tree branches is a bit too much above the cutoff --
Now Model T headlights are not the easiest to aim. One screw to get the bulb into the focal point of the reflector for maximum brightness. The fluted lens is what actually bends the light pattern. --
Matching new technology to old has always been a challenge. The first electric headlights had a flat glass lens just like the early brass headlights. It wasn't long before the brightness of th new electric light (like today) caused some laws to eliminate the glare to on coming drivers. This cause numerous aftermarket headlight lens patterns

Frank,

Allan may have initially mentioned David's lamps, but he went on - as I read it - to condemn all LED lamps. I enquired as to whether that's what he actually meant, and commented appropriately.

My view is that in order to be critical of David's beam pattern I suggest that:

(1) the headlamps should be shone upon a suitable board or beam setter
(2) there should be a reference pattern determined with early incandescent bulbs
(3) following this the reference pattern should be compared with LED lamps installed
(4) the results shown here

Obviously correct focusing for such a test would be necessary, and a comparison of output might also be useful; headlamps need to actually work for the driver too, feeble yellow light with a 'perfect' pattern vs usable bright light with a slightly less than perfect pattern...?

Austin,

I looked at the source data used at the time and described some of that detail in this thread:

https://www.mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25440

There was some science involved at the time, and I think it's useful to understand that. The advertisements that Frank included here are interesting, but unless they're a lens that someone wants to use today they seem a distraction from the fundamental issue (or non-issue as I see it

Luke.

Perhaps I may have been a little too harsh in my opinion of Led conversions. If there are available led bulbs which do meet vehicle lighting standards, I would be interested to hear of them. I would like to know how they are engineered to work with a parabolic reflector.

For off road use, aim and focus are not necessarily of great concern. Modern cars with Led lighting are specially designed units to address these concerns. As a previous poster said, marrying modern technology to old time technology is difficult.

Allan from down under.

Allan wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 30, 2024 6:11 pm

Perhaps I may have been a little too harsh in my opinion of Led conversions. If there are available led bulbs which do meet vehicle lighting standards, I would be interested to hear of them. I would like to know how they are engineered to work with a parabolic reflector.

For off road use, aim and focus are not necessarily of great concern. Modern cars with Led lighting are specially designed units to address these concerns. As a previous poster said, marrying modern technology to old time technology is difficult.

Allan from down under.

Allan, I'm not sure you understand how these LED bulbs actually function in a T headlamp. What if I told you it really makes no difference if the reflector is silvered vs. if it is painted Black? The Intensity or lumen output is basically the same. Also, the idea of focusing the incandescent bulbs was because you had one wire inside of the bulb and you were using the reflector to project that. When you study the shape of the LED bulbs we are using, the chips are aimed forward and outward but are generally shielded from around the axis area where the bulb base is located. No need to focus an LED retrofitted bulb.

BRENT in 10-uh-C wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 31, 2024 2:09 pm

.... When you study the shape of the LED bulbs we are using, the chips are aimed forward and outward but are generally shielded from around the axis area where the bulb base is located. No need to focus an LED retrofitted bulb.

Brent,

That may be the case for some LED's, maybe even those you use, but certainly not all!

Luke.

Luke wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 31, 2024 2:49 pm

BRENT in 10-uh-C wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 31, 2024 2:09 pm

.... When you study the shape of the LED bulbs we are using, the chips are aimed forward and outward but are generally shielded from around the axis area where the bulb base is located. No need to focus an LED retrofitted bulb.

Brent,

That may be the case for some LED's, maybe even those you use, but certainly not all!

Luke.

Well I definitely see your point, however the OP did state he was interested in what Langs is selling, -and my statement(s) are based on the bulbs that Langs is selling, and the bulbs Logo-Lites is selling. I have installed quite a few sets of these bulbs in customer's cars, ...and my own. My experiences with those bulbs are written above. Likely there are others out there, but I don't think we see them here in the States.

Brent,

Thanks for clarifying the specific lamps you were commenting on.

I suggest it would be useful for people to do this as not all LED's are equal, and as Austin's original post didn't say whose lamps he was considering I think things have become a little confused

Luke.

Still no info on any Led replacements having been tested/certified as meeting any specifications/standards for road use. I wonder why?

Allan from down under.

Allan wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 31, 2024 4:57 pm

Still no info on any Led replacements having been tested/certified as meeting any specifications/standards for road use. I wonder why?

Allan from down under.

Likely because there is no 'standard' for a pre-1927 Ford Headlights. Here in the States these 1909-1927 vehicles are 'exempt' from many DOT regulations such as emissions, crash safety regs, passenger restraint systems, turn signals, all-wheel brakes, and many other items ...including Headlamp bulb illumination.

So let me fill in a few gaps here.

I purchased these LED’s from “Classic Dynamo & Regulator Conversions” in 2015.

Link: https://www.dynamoregulatorconversions. ... -bulbs.php

This was before any of the vendors were carrying them and they are custom made by these guys, so none of the vendors in the states will have the same model.

These are called “ 6-24v Double Dipper Bulb” BA15d for negative ground.

I did install the reflectors from the T vendors, the brightest they carried and have stock lenses.

I have not tried to focus them yet but I need to. The original thought was to run these during the day for visibility around traffic since I had cars pulling out in front of me all the time and they do help during the day.

I did try the original 32 candle power bulbs or whatever they are but they seem to be more of a marker for other cars than being able to see the road so the first time I took the car out at night I was hooked.

In the photo I’m actually on dim because one bulb has a failed LED used on the bright circuit but oddly enough there is not a huge difference in brightness between dim and bright. I think bright is a bit wider pattern since both sides of the bulb are on.

I have the car out many times at night and never had oncoming traffic flash high beems ( I do get a lot of oncoming drivers flashing me in my Equinox on dim). So these are not as bright as a modern car but as you can see from photo I have not done anything to adjust the pattern.

The photo was taken with my iPhone so that may have made it a bit brighter but I don’t think much. You can still see the reflection on the street signs further down the road.

I can tell you it’s a blast to drive at night and would not ever go back to the incandescent bulbs. The best part is I run my generator at 4 amps so even with the headlamps and tail light I still have a 2 amp charge.

Hope that helps happy to share more if needed.

David

Allan wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 31, 2024 4:57 pm

Still no info on any Led replacements having been tested/certified as meeting any specifications/standards for road use. I wonder why?

Allan from down under.

That's easy to answer....money

Not to be nasty or insensitive, but, about a third of the drivers drive with their high beams all the time. When you flash at them, they do not readjust or CARE.
Unfortunately the new cars, especially the new Ford trucks are so bright even on low, and they get upset when you tell them or flash on them at night.
I put led’s on my 2 T’s but use the cowl lights as running lights and only incandescent bulbs in the headlight buckets. With bright running lights in back and in front I make my presence known.
I do not plan on driving at night.
With age our eyes are bothered more and more with the high intensity lights. My only .02 cents.